So after a two week International break Watford return to the Premiership arena to face a Wolves side who are yet to pick up a single point from their opening three games. With the talent that still bolsters their ranks, you could wonder why. They dominated the game against Man Utd in their previous game but failed to score one of many chances, ultimately losing to a late strike. It will be a tough fixture back for the hornets, but we will be wary of the fact they have beaten us in two out the last three games against them. If we play with the same valor we showed in a very unfair 1-0 reverse away at top of the table Tottenham, we will give ourselves a chance. Welcome the Woolies Personally, I have no problem with the Wolves fan base. They are passionate, loud and vocal. I do have a slight problem with some of their sides' antics though, especially during the cup semi final. Anyone remember this? Nothing against Raul Jimenez as a person, I am sure he is a lovely guy. But sorry, he acted and looked like a total *** when he did this. Sure, celebrate putting your side 2-0 up, I get that. But he must of known the mockery he was going to receive if it backfired, and on this occasion, it did. Just my personal opinion, and I am sorry if anyone is offended by my view on it. Now, let's talk about Santa Clause. Whoops - Sorry, wrong season and wrong guy. Let's try that again. I mean, wow. That image totally sums out how their fans' must be feeling after their first three gamed this season. Will they go down? Not a chance in hell - they have decent players and a good ethos. At this point in time Arsenal have more chance of playing Preston and Deeney's Brum next season. I admit I know very little about Bruno Lage. But he comes across as quite dull and boring - a bit like Ivic for us last season. I hope he is a good motivator, because after they lose on Saturday (fingers crossed), he is going to need to dig deep to get them running and pretty sharpish. The Danger Men Jimenez, Silva and Traore' will be their biggest threats, and it really does scare me thinking of Masina going up against any of them on the right hand side - getting pulled everywhere but the right way. Ruddy, the goal keeper is a old hand at the game, and will be giant to get past, and we do not have Delafoo's magic chip from the edge of the box to beat him this time. All in all, staying focused on what we do well is going to be more than important - and hoping Bachmann doesn't have another bad case of "spot the ball" again from a free kick situation. What About Us? Hopefully Kucka will be rested enough to play a decent 75 minutes. He was pretty off kilt against Spuds and did look very leggy. Dennis is a player I am looking forward to seeing on Saturday (yes, my first home game this season yay!) he has looked a good prospect and I hope he can continue his form. I would like to see Xisco change it up a bit and start with Cucho. We need to score an early goal to settle the nerves a bit, and if he can provide it, or in some way pick he pass, it will do his confidence even more good. I would expect King, Sarr, Serrialta, WTE, Bachmann, Sissco and one of Cleverley and Gosling to start. I think we may even see our Turkish Delight be given a run out also at some point. Our back line still concerns me, especially with Masina in a poor vain of form at the moment. Thank god Carthcart is injured - so Ngakia will get a moment to prove he can be a suitable replacement. With the Transfer Window bolted shut till January - we have our defense "as you were" for another four months, which is a big chunk of the season. My Verdict We are at home, we have won our first two home games (yes one was a cup game but it still counts), and seem to come out fighting at home. I would love us to pick up our second win of the season after an abysmal display at Brighton and a heartfelt performance at Tottenham. I think we can win this, but it will be very tight affair and a big confidence boost to whoever scores first. We do not draw many games with Wolves so there will be goals (I hope). As much as I would love us to win, I think we will settle for a point, keeping our PPG ticking along and something to build on before we go to a "winnable" game in the Norfolk. Safe journey to anyone who also attends, and let's roar the boys on and keep above Arsenal in the table for another week. WATFORD 1 WOLVES 1
Kucka played 90 mins v Slovenia on Wednesday. Don't think he'll be getting much of a rest as they have 2 more games, tomorrow v Croatia, Tues v Cyprus.
Must win game. A real 8 pointer. Wolves have lost all 3 and haven't scored. If they beat us they will go above us. Wolves 3 WFC 0
Lovely preview. Thanks @SkylaRose We have to target a win here. Hoping Pedro is back to play a part and we try Cucho from the start. No idea what our midfield will look like for this one.
A point would be excellent, a loss would be pretty damaging and leave us suddenly under a lot of pressure mentally.
Good enjoyable piece, although it's Jose Sa who is in goal for them now rather than John Ruddy who I think is still #2 (as he was when we played at Wembley). I can't really fault Wolves so far this season, they look better than last season but just lack that cutting edge, hopefully they don't find it against us! Have no issue with players celebrating like Jimenez, but they do have to take the inevitable pushback if they don't see the game our! Ah, good times, can we pretend everything after that never happened?
I'm going to try and do what the players claim to do. One match at a time and don't look too far ahead. We've got a better squad together than I expected but the league is stronger than the last time we were in it. Enjoy the ride while we still have Ismaila Sarr.
Apologies if this has already been answered on a different thread, but I can’t go to this one - is there any way of transferring my electronic ticket to my brother-in-law so he can use it instead?
I would check the terms of conditions of the ticket first. If they are non-transferable, then obviously not. If it doesn't say this, it might be an idea ti email or call the ticket office of the club just to make sure it's possible to do. Personally, I cannot see a problem with it either way, but it's better to know the legalities of it beforehand
I am cautiously optimistic that our holding mids will be a little more familiar with each other and with Xisco's intentions and can help mitigate things like Traore's power and pace. I'm not as down on Masina as some on here and think he'll hold up reasonably well, especially as communications with the midfield and his mates at the back become more settled. I think Cucho starting would be the way to go. Make Traore spend energy tracking back himself, not just attacking. Sema's fine, but he's not really a danger man at this level. Cucho wouuld help pull apart their defence, making more room for Sarr and Dennis. A healthy Femenia would be huge.
Thanks. Turns out at the time I was posting my question, my sister was emailing the club asking them the same question. I was able to distribute the ticket through my account on the club website with no problem.
But I don't fear Traore, hugely over rated, has scored 25 goals in ~280 games, 10 in 134 for Wolves For a forward that is worse than even Andre Gray levels of shityness
This game will mark a new age for WFC. An almost entirely new forward line and midfield starters, and a lot of players who are past their prime/surplus to requirements/allegedly disruptive/uncommitted moved on. There isn't much to go on yet, but the early signs are that most of our new signings really want to be here and are putting in the effort. My current assessment is that we're a better side than the one that went down, even if some of the individual players in the relegation squad were better on paper. We've got some steel in the side now, a boat load of pace, and players that seem to want to actually play for the club instead of feeling they're doing us a favour. Hopefully we can mark the start of this new era with a good performance against Wolves, who look like they might be there for the taking.
Will destroy Cathcart/Masina though. Doesn’t matter if he can’t shoot he will create havoc against those two that will create chances for others that can.
I like Traore as a player, I like his old-school directness despite his lack of an end product (Kiko of all people pocketed him, and from left-back!), although unlike, say, a Sema or a Pereyra, we still need to be aware of his pace, and of course they have a threat from the other side too
So whats the deal on Sierralta on this ? Has it been confirmed that he will be banned for this game ?
FIFA were certainly threatening it. Don't think we'll know until nearer the time, though. If they enforce it, it'll be interesting to see if any clubs try to challenge it. I wonder if there is some kind of force majeure argument to be made against FIFA, for example? The release of player rules were made for normal circumstances, not pandemics where governments are enforcing restricted travel. In fact, I wonder if FIFA's attempt to get the government to make exceptions for players might help clubs make that case. FIFA stepping in to request exceptions quite clearly illustrates that the situation is NOT normal.
Can’t for the life of me see Wolves losing four on the spin… or is their new manager this seasons DeBoer?
Yes. I'm pretty sure Wolves are in a false position. They gave Man U a hard time last match. They might have lost some of their impetus from 2 years ago, but they have good players. All games are hard to predict, but this one particularly so; It might well be a good game, as both teams begin to sort themselves out with all their changes.
This has to be Xisco's last chance. Failure to win here and we are basically already all but down. I can see the Pozzos calling up Quique for a desperate rescue mission.
They're the new Sheff Utd, they're competitive in games and only losing by a single goal but if you can't score enough then you're going to struggle. Plus their defence is awful, Sarr and Dennis should be gagging to play against that backline.
I wonder what the situation will be with Sarr and the other African players . Could be without half of our first XI
